James Ketchell

Eva and Hannah will publish reports from Greenland

I will call either my daughter Eva or my woman Hannah every 3-4 days. Leave an update on how Anders and I am progressing over the Greenland Icecap. Eva will put together and publish a report here with the help of Hannah. Each report illustrated with the same picture as you see here, since we can’t send pictures. You can follow us almost each movement here:

https://share.garmin.com/EXPLORERGLOBAL

The plan is that we will be on the ice 11-12 August, depending on weather, leave Tasiilaq by boat to a fiord leading into a glacier near Isortoq. Make our way climbing up on to the icecap through an area of crevasses, cross a mainly snowless icecap on to the Western side, a south-west direction, where we will meet a very interesting crevasse area, which we will need to orientate through off the ice. From here we will start walking through the Austmanna Valley to reach a pickup point at the fiord end.

We will carry food for 35 days.

It is not the exact route of the first crossing Frithjof Nansen did 1888, especially the beginning, but the end, yes. I have read the book several times and it never stops amazing and thrilling me! Obviously the first crossing was the real deal. Nowadays with all the security measures in place, the knowledge, it can at best be called a modern adventure challenge.

When the Swede/Finn Baron Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld 141 years ago wanted to figure out whether there was a tropical forest in the middle of Greenland as thought, he started the idea of a crossing of this huge island. The first Swede to do it was my very good friend Lars Wallgren, who did it 1988, 100 years after Nansen’s crossing, going east to west.

I am looking forward to attempt the crossing tremendously much! Mainly for other purposes than both Nordenskiöld and Nansen, who did not have our modern issues of a constant stream of looking at the Iphone, connected to the Internet, a life where you constantly have to be occupied. Most of the time, with useless things. I hope this Expedition can help me get a full reset of these things, or at least give perspective, and of course, I am looking forward to the adventure!

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